44 pages • 1 hour read
Genevieve WheelerAdelaide: A Novel
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Parts 10-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 10: “After: London, England 2019” - Part 12: “Spring: London, England 2023”
Part 10, Chapter 27 Summary
Rory doesn’t help Adelaide move into her new apartment as he expected to do. Because of the breakup, he’s spending the day alone. He watches television and reflects on his relationship with Adelaide, remembering specific times they’ve spent together. He liked being with her because she was genuine, but he wasn’t in love with her. He realizes that he never wanted to be. Being with Adelaide was comforting, however, so when they took a break, he downloaded the dating app as an experiment. He didn’t delete it even after they got back together. He didn’t sleep with any of his matches, but he liked scrolling through his options and chatting with other women.
Eloise calls, interrupting Rory’s thoughts. Eloise reminds him that the night they met, Eloise told him that she would hurt him if he didn’t take care of Adelaide. Now, she promises over the phone to fulfill her earlier threats if he doesn’t stay away from Adelaide from now on. After hanging up, Rory suddenly misses Adelaide.
Part 10, Chapter 28 Summary
The hospital keeps Adelaide overnight. A nurse visits to check in and discuss what will happen next. Adelaide calls out of work so that she can recover. The next day, Celeste accompanies Adelaide back to her apartment. Her friends give her flowers and treats and encourage her to take care of herself. Adelaide is grateful for their support and promises not to self-harm again. Adelaide receives a package of the books she lent Rory with a note saying how much he admired her.
Adelaide begins regular checkups at the hospital. Her healthcare workers want her to start therapy and medication. Adelaide doesn’t understand why she’s been feeling the way she has. She’s both excited about her new life and unsure if she wants to live. At the end of the week, Adelaide agrees to a full psychiatric evaluation. Adelade and the psychiatrist, Dr. Grayson, discuss her mental health history. Adelaide talks about her sister’s bipolar disorder, her mother’s depression, and her parents’ divorce. She talks about Emory’s abuse, her dating history, her move from the United States to England, and her miscarriage and relationship with Rory. She apologizes for talking so much, but Dr. Grayson encourages her and suggests that Adelaide might have bipolar disorder. Adelaide is shocked.
Part 11, Chapter 29 Summary
Adelaide reflects on her meeting with Dr. Grayson and considers what it might mean to have bipolar disorder. Though Izzy has it, Adelaide never considered the diagnosis for herself. Dr. Grayson prescribes several medications. Over the following days, Adelaide starts to feel better and returns to work. One day, Adelaide receives an embossed Moleskin journal she ordered for Rory in the mail. She leaves work, feeling overwhelmed, and bumps into Bubs on the street. She is embarrassed at always running into him when she’s upset. Bubs gives her his number and invites her to call him whenever she’s having a bad day.
A few days later, Adelaide wakes up feeling sick. She calls her doctor and discovers that she’s having a reaction to her medications. She calls out of work for a few weeks to recover. Once her reaction dissipates, she starts work with a therapist named Meg. In their first session, they focus on Adelaide’s competing needs to balance her mental health and to please others. Meg listens to and encourages Adelaide, assuring her that they’ll restore her emotional energy together. Afterward, Adelaide reflects on the session and remembers advice her sister gave her. She tells herself that it’s okay to love herself, even if it’s hard.
Part 11, Chapter 30 Summary
Per Meg’s recommendation, Adelaide starts practicing yoga. She runs into Bubs on the train after class one day, and they decide to have drinks and catch up. Bubs admits that he hasn’t seen Rory since buying his new place and doesn’t think Adelaide deserved the way he treated her. As Adelaide settles into her new life, some days are easier than others. Cleaning her apartment one day, she finds reminders of Rory and breaks down in tears. She and Celeste go out, and Adelaide meets a man named Townsend at the bar. They dance, kiss, and go home together. Adelaide is reluctant to have sex with him without a condom, and Townsend starts crying because his sister died recently. Adelaide comforts him.
Part 11, Chapter 31 Summary
Eloise and Nico visit Adelaide for Thanksgiving. They catch up on their lives. Adelaide tells Eloise about therapy and the progress she’s making. Eloise comforts and encourages Adelaide. In the morning, the friends get coffee and read each other’s coffee grounds. Adelaide has a good fortune. Another day, Adelaide and Eloise are out, and Adelaide starts thinking about Rory again. Eloise reassures her that he can’t have all her memories; Eloise and Adelaide will make new memories together.
Part 11, Chapter 32 Summary
Adelaide spends the winter holidays with her family in the United States. The trip is peaceful, and Adelaide realizes how much she loves her sisters and mother. Back home, Adelaide has a session with Meg. They discuss Adelaide’s theory about people coming into each other’s lives at the right time. Meg suggests that Adelaide came into Rory’s life when he needed her. Afterward, Adelaide writes a letter to Rory. Later that week, she adopts a dog named Fitz and invites Celeste over to meet him. They browse dating profiles, and Adelaide matches with Bubs.
Part 12, Epilogue Summary
In 2023, Adelaide is in a committed relationship with Bubs. Out walking Fitz one day, she sees Rory at a distance. He pets her dog but doesn’t recognize her. Adelaide notices that he’s wearing a wedding ring. When she tells Bubs about the encounter, he informs her that Rory married a college friend. Adelaide and Bubs have made a life together. Neither Madison nor Celeste lives in England anymore, and Eloise and Nico are back in Brooklyn, but Adelaide is still close with her friends. Sometimes she wonders if Rory ever realized he loved her, but she’s grown comfortable with things she doesn’t know. She doesn’t know that Bubs is planning to propose or what their future will look like as a couple or as parents, but she’s happy and loved.
Parts 10-12 Analysis
In the novel’s final section, Adelaide’s suicide attempt compels her to seek the help and support she needs and begin a more concerted Journey Toward Self-Acceptance. At the start of Part 10, Adelaide works to reconcile her competing emotions and desires. At times, she wants “to decorate her flat with peonies and plants and color-coordinated stacks of books,” while at others she wants “her life to end” (256). Adelaide learns through her work with mental health professionals that she doesn’t have to have all of the answers, but she does need to understand and accept herself. Dr. Grayson’s evaluation leads her to diagnose Adelaide with bipolar disorder, like her sister Izzy. Having the same diagnosis as Izzy helps her to connect with her sister, drawing comfort from Izzy’s advice. Once she learns that she has bipolar disorder, she’s better able to take the steps she needs to build a stable, fulfilling life and, ultimately, accept who she is.
Once Adelaide accepts help, she starts to see herself more clearly and understand herself more thoroughly. Throughout the novel, Adelaide’s relationship with Rory clouds her self-regard, making it entirely dependent on the way Rory treats her. Rory exacerbates her emotional struggles, keeping her from caring about herself and reinforcing her fear of Confronting Mental Health Conditions on her own terms. After she secures a therapist in Chapter 30, Adelaide begins to change her point of view. The experience of seeking help begins to teach her that it’s “okay to feel […] to fill her lungs with air, her tank with fuel, her brain with the chemicals it need[s]” (266). The narrative tone in these lines sharply contrasts with that of the preceding chapters, illustrating the change in Adelaide’s internal monologue. Earlier in the novel, Adelaide struggled to be gentle with herself, and the tone was bleak and defeatist. By the close, however, Adelaide has learned how to extend herself the same grace that she extends to others, telling herself that it’s “okay to love herself fiercely, a little selfishly, and with intention” (266). With Adelaide’s change in mindset, the tone of the novel becomes lighter and warmer.
The Epilogue grants Adelaide’s narrative a hopeful, redemptive ending. Though her idea of love throughout the novel is defined by self-sacrifice, in the Epilogue, Adelaide pursues the goals and relationships she wants, no longer abandoning her needs and wants to appease others. This change conveys her emotional and psychological growth. Throughout Parts 10 and 11, Adelaide makes intentional strides toward healing, self-love, and self-acceptance. She maintains her therapy arrangements with Meg, continues taking her medications, starts practicing yoga, sustains her friendships, and even adopts a dog. All of these actions and decisions create space in Adelaide’s life for new possibilities and experiences. The Epilogue reveals the ways in which Adelaide transforms herself and her circumstances in the years since her breakup. This final section jumps forward in time several years, granting access to Adelaide’s future and her evolution over several years. In this section, the narrator depicts not only Adelaide’s reciprocal and stable relationship with Bubs but also her newfound comfort with uncertainty. Adelaide’s brief contact with Rory in this section illustrates her growth. Where an earlier Adelaide may have tried to get Rory to stay and talk to her or been hurt that he didn’t recognize her, by the end of the novel, Adelaide looks at him with detached goodwill. In the past, Adelaide craved control over her circumstances, past, present, and future. By the end of the novel, she accepts what she can control and what she cannot, and the future becomes a realm of possibility and promise rather than fear and anxiety.
